Death Grips

Well, this is officially post numero 3-0-0, so here's a thank you for sticking with me. You asked for them, here they are. They've been one of the most requested bands, which is surprising for a predominantly punk/emo blog,  although that could be a testament to the universal appeal of their music. So, here you go. I fuck the music.

Death Grips are a three-piece experimental hip-hop group hailing from Sacramento, California, and formed in late 2010. They were created by drummer Zach Hill, who was known for his other group Hella, his solo work, and his work with others, such as Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Wavves, and a ton of others. In addition to Hill, Andy Morin (who became known as "Flatlander") handled production/keyboards, and rapper Stefan Burnett ("MC Ride") rounded off the trio.

They quickly released a 6-song EP, which was followed by a 13-song mixtape. This is where all eyes were suddenly on them. The dark, aggressive, and industrial sound of Death Grips had been virtually unheard of (maybe with the exceptions of Dälek or B L A C K I E). Regardless, Exmilitary was released to critical acclaim, and attracted fans across the musical spectrum. Along comes 2012, and that's when everything in the Death Grips universe went crazy, and has stayed that way ever since. They signed to Epic Records and released The Money Store, which garnered mass amounts of attention, and for good reason. They're just as experimental and aggressive as on their past efforts, and are still not shy about creating shrill noises, laser-beam electronics, and off-kilter beats. Lyrically, they continue to explore the darkest parts of the human psyche within their digital dystopia, which are best heard through the drill-sergeant assault of MC Ride. All the while they show that they can still create some killer hooks too.

Following The Money Store, a whole lot of shit went down, to say the least. There's been a series of leaked albums, cryptic messages, break-ups, cancelled tours, mysterious re-emergences, label disputes, it goes on and on. If it can be summarized briefly, they leaked their next album, made the cover a close-up penis, got dropped from said label, and then they were no-shows at a lot of their own shows. They put out another album (with Robert Pattinson playing guitar for one track), planned a tour with Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden, and then cancelled it. They announced the release of a double-album (The Powers That B), and then announced their break-up. The first half of it, titled Niggas On The Moon, was released, and featured a collaborative sample of Björk on every track. Months later, they randomly drop a free album of instrumentals titled Fashion Week, with tracks that spell out "JENNY DEATH WHEN", since the name of the second half of The Powers That B is Jenny Death. At long last, it is released, and Death Grips are suddenly back together and planning a tour (stay tuned for the cancellation). Needless to say, Death Grips have been busy for the past few years, and that's not even getting into the smaller details. 

Death Grips have certainly been one of the most notable acts to emerge in modern music, which of course leads to some interesting opinions on them. I'm sure they've piqued a lot of interest in fans of the more aggressive side of this blog, thus the requests. To anyone new to them though, you are in for something different, that's for sure. If you're looking to listen to them, definitely start with The Money Store. If you like the aggressive, vocal/lyrical side with strong hooks, go to Exmilitary after. If you want more instrumental experimentation, and some really unique sounds, go to Government Plates. If you're looking for a nice hybrid of both, No Love Deep Web is the way to go. As for The Powers That B, the more accessible side is definitely Jenny Death, and fans of their early work will certainly be into it. Niggas On The Moon is very unstructured and noisy, which is incredibly interesting, especially in contrast to Jenny Death. I also included all their other officially released material, which is basically their EP, Fashion Week, and some singles. There are a ton of instrumental excerpts, remixes, unmastered versions and such of their music online, so if anyone would be interested in anything like that, let me know. They're also pretty easy to find if you wanted to go looking for them yourself. Either way, I hope you enjoy.

Death Grips (2011)

1. Death Grips (Next Grips)

2. Full Moon (Death Classic)

3. Takyon (Death Yon)

4. Known for it (Freak Grips)

5. Where's it at (Death Heated)

6. Face Melter (How to do impossible things)

Exmilitary (2011)

1. Beware

2. Guillotine

3. Spread Eagle Cross the Block

4. Lord Of The Game (ft. Mexican Girl)

5. Takyon (Death Yon)

6. Cut Throat (Instrumental)

7. Klink

8. Culture Shock

9. 5D

10. Thru The Walls

11. Known For It

12. I Want It I Need It (Death Heated)

13. Blood Creepin'

Live From Death Valley (2011)

1. Poser Killer

2. Fyrd Up

The Money Store (2012)

1. Get Got

2. The Fever (Aye Aye)

3. Lost Boys

4. Blackjack

5. Hustle Bones

6. I've Seen Footage

7. Double Helix

8. System Blower

9. The Cage

10. Punk Weight

11. Fuck That

12. Bitch Please

13. Hacker

Adult Swim Singles Program (2012)

13. @DEATHGRIPZ

No Love Deep Web (2012)

1. Come up and get me

2. Lil Boy

3. No Love

4. Black Dice

5. World of Dogs

6. Lock your doors

7. Whammy

8. Hunger games

9. Deep Web

10. Stockton

11. Pop

12. Bass rattle stars out the sky

13. Artificial death in the west

DxDG (2013)

1. Intro

2. Come Up And Get Me

3. Get Got

4. Taykon (Death Yon)

5. Guillotine

6. No Love

7. The Fever (Aye Aye)

8. I've Seen Footage

9. Lock Your Doors + Outro

Note: This is a live bootleg from their SXSW set

Government Plates (2013)

1. You Might Think He Loves You For Your Money But I Know What He Really Loves You For It's Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat

2. Anne Bonny

3. Two Heavens

4. This Is Violence Now (Don't Get Me Wrong)

5. Birds

6. Feels like a wheel

7. Im Overflow

8. Big House

9. Government Plates

10. Bootleg (Dont need your help)

11. Whatever I want (Fuck who's watching)

Niggas On The Moon (2014)

1. Up My Sleeves

2. Billy Not Really

3. Black Quarterback

4. Say Hey Kid

5. Have A Sad Cum BB

6. Fuck Me Out

7. Voila

8. Big Dipper

Note: This is Disc 1 of The Powers That B

Fashion Week (2015)

1. Runway J

2. Runway E

3. Runway N

4. Runway N

5. Runway Y

6. Runway D

7. Runway E

8. Runway A

9. Runway T

10. Runway H

11. Runway W

12. Runway H

13. Runway E

15. Runway N

Jenny Death (2015)

1. I Break Mirrors With My Face In The United States

2. Inanimate Sensation

3. Turned Off

4. Why A Bitch Gotta Lie

5. Pss Pss

6. The Powers That B

7. Beyond Alive

8. Centuries Of Damn

9. On GP

10. Death Grips 2.0

Note: This is Disc 2 of The Powers That B

Interview 2016 (2016)

1. Interview A

2. Interview B

3. Interview C

4. Interview D

5. Interview E

6. Interview F

Bottomless Pit (2016)

1. Giving Bad People Good Ideas

2. Hot Head

3. Spikes

4. Warping

5. Eh

6. Bubbles Buried In This Jungle

7. Trash

8. Houdini

9. BB Poison

10. Three Bedrooms In a Good Neighborhood

11. Ring A Bell

12. 8080808

13. Bottomless Pit

Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix) (2017)

1. Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix)

Year Of The Snitch (2018)

1. Death Grips Is Online

2. Flies

3. Black Paint

4. Linda's In Custody

5. The Horn Section

6. Hahaha

7. Shitshow

8. Streaky

9. Dilemma

10. Little Richard

11. The Fear

12. Outro

13. Disappointed

Gmail And The Restraining Orders (2021)

1. Gmail And The Restraining Orders

thirdworlds.net

Sex Positions

Sex Positions were a hardcore band from Boston, Massachusetts. They formed from the remnants of another hardcore band, The Dedication. That punk root carries over into Sex Positions, with some explosive songs and raw energy, but they also take it one step further. They experiment heavily with noise and electronics, which puts them in a league of their own. Add some distorted bass riffs, odd guitar melodies, and irregular rhythms, and you've got one hell of a unique band. Unfortunately, they only put out one LP in their lifetime. Albeit, it is one amazing LP, and with Deathwish nonetheless. They went through a lot of line-up changes following its release, and managed to tour in support of the album for a while, but nothing solid really came together after that, though attempts were made. Regardless of that, enjoy what they did manage to give us. Also, I got the demo tracks from What Are Blood Wings?, so thanks for those. Enjoy.

Demo (2002)

1. Sleeping (Demo)

2. You Better Start Running (Demo)

3. Worse Than The Plague (Demo)

4. Ruined (Demo)

5. Heroes Of The Novel (Demo)

6. Doors Are Harder To Slam In The Summer (Demo)

7. We Already Went Over This (Demo)

8. Dead Lay Very Still (Demo)

9. We Already Went Over This (Demo)

10. Commit It (Demo)

Sex Positions (2004)

1. Commit It

2. You Better Start Running

3. Worse Than The Plague

4. Aphrodite Dear

5. Doors Are Harder To Slam In The Summer

6. Sleeping

7. Interlude

8. Dead Lay Very Still

9. Heroes Of The Novel

10. We Already Went Over This

11. Ruined

Incendiary

Here's a highly requested band for ya. Incendiary are a five-piece hardcore/punk band from Long Island, New York that formed in 2007. Since then, they've dropped a decent chunk of material that would make their NYHC forefathers proud. Incendiary are one of many modern bands that take the obvious influence of bands like Madball, and that old-school thrash-inspired hardcore sound, and bring it into a whole new era. Bands like Expire, Suburban Scum, Rotting Out, Backtrack, Trapped Under Ice, Turnstile, the last goes on and on. Incendiary are another notable band that fans of the aforementioned definitely have to listen to. Thanks to Jacob Shumaker for the help with this post. Enjoy.

Amongst The Filth (2008)

1. Found Me

2. Green

3. Anomalous

Crusade (2009)

1. Dissension

2. Crusade

3. Sacramentum

4. Anesthesia

5. Fuck Your Beliefs

6. Absolution

7. Antichrist

8. Perdition

9. Choosing Sides

10. The Streets Bring Only Blank Stares

Incendiary/Suburban Scum (2010)

1. Incendiary - God's Country

2. Incendiary - Victory In Defeat

3. Suburban Scum - Drifter

4. Suburban Scum - Land Of The Lost

Incendiary/Unrestrained (2011)

1. Incendiary - Head In Check

2. Incendiary - Cold War

3. Unrestrained - 80k

4. Unrestrained - Deconstructing

Sabotage (2011)

1. Sabotage (Beastie Boys cover)

Incendiary/Xibalba (2011)

1. Incendiary - Survival

2. Incendiary - Rome Is Burning

3. Xibalba - Stone Hearts

4. Xibalba - Fuck You Pelón

Cost Of Living (2013)

1. Zeitgeist

2. Primitive Rage

3. The Power Process

4. Burnt Sacrifice

5. Deed Before Creed

6. Snake

7. Force of Neglect

8. S.O.V.

9. Erase Myself

10. Silence Is A Sentence

Thousand Mile Stare (2017)

1. Still Burning

2. Hanging From The Family Tree

3. Front Toward Enemy

4. Awakening

5. The Product Is You

6. No Purity

7. Hard Truths Cut Both Ways

8. Sell Your Cause

9. Fact or Fiction

10. Poison

Change The Way You Think About Pain (2023)

1. Bite The Hook

2. Jesus Bones

3. Echo Of Nothing

4. Host/Parasite

5. Lie of Liberty

6. C.T.E.

7. Collision

8. Rats In The Cellar

9. Santosha (Illusion of the Self)

10. Change The Way You Think About Pain

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Circle Takes The Square

Circle Takes The Square are a screamo/post-hardcore/a mess of genres band from Savannah, Georgia that formed in 2000. They are the brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Drew Speziale and vocalist/bassist Kathleen Stubelek, who have been the band's only two consistent members. Circle Takes The Square are a name often brought up when discussing the "classics" or "essentials" of screamo, alongside pg.99, Orchid, Jeromes Dream, etc. Although those phrases can certainly be applied to them, they are stylistically very different from any of their contemporaries.

Their entire reputation is basically built around one album, As The Roots Undo. This is for good reason, since it could be argued that this is the greatest screamo/post-hardcore album released. One word comes to mind when thinking of this album: frenzied. Their songs can hop from grinding, distorted guitars with blast beats behind them to jazzy interludes, to a piano part, to acoustic passages with sing-song melodies, right back to scream-fests. And these changes often come as fast as a finger snap. Though there still are those post-rock build-ups in parts, other times songs can change direction in an instant and be back to that original tangent just as fast. The band makes full use of every dynamic imaginable, whether it be very quiet and atmospheric, or blisteringly intense. "Experimental" is an understatement when it comes to this album. Perhaps the only semi-consistent aspect about this is the dual vocals of Drew and Kathleen, which often entwine with each other, sometimes sounding incredibly sinister and others quite melodic, but always blended together perfectly. Also, this is one of the few albums where every song, from start to finish, matters just as much as the others (maybe with the exception of "Intro"). Every song on here offers something new, but also gives the listener a perfect idea of what Circle Takes The Square is all about. This is an album by a band that knew what it meant to think forward, and who were out to create something different to what their contemporaries were doing. And that is the exact result they got, and it has yet to be forgotten, even over 10 years later.

Circle Takes The Square disappeared for many years post-As The Roots Undo, but never formally broke up. Rumours about a new album were constantly thrown around, but nothing came to light until 2011. An EP, Decompositions Vol. 1, Rites of Initiation, was released. This ended up being the first half of their official full-length, which would be released a year later. It was titled Decompositions: Volume Number One, and came 8 years after their last full-length. Despite all that time, Circle Takes The Square still does all that made them so great initially just as well. However, this is still a band that has matured exponentially. The youthful frenzy is much more subdued, and intelligible riffs with more formal song structures are definitely more prominent here. The metal influence definitely peels in more, with songs opting for a more mid-tempo pulse. Overall, this is the sensible follow-up, and an incredible album on its own, it just doesn't have the influential acclaim that their debut does.

Circle Takes The Square (2001)

1. Our Need To Bleed

2. Eleven Owls Have Eyes

3. A Disclaimer To The Self

4. Comes With The Fall

5. Houdini Logic

Document #13: Pyramids In Cloth (2002)

1. Circle Takes The Square - Patchwork Neurology

2. Circle Takes The Square - We're Sustained By The Corpse Of A Fallen Constellation

3. pg.99 - Goodbye, Face

4. pg.99 - Calm Song

As The Roots Undo (2004)

1. Intro

2. Same Shade As Concrete

3. Crowquill

4. In The Nervous Light Of Sunday

5. Interview At The Ruins

6. Non-Objective Portrait of Karma

7. Kill The Switch

8. A Crater To Cough In

Decompositions: Volume Number One (2012)

1. Enter By The Narrow Gates

2. Spirit Narrative

3. Way of Ever-Branching Paths

4. The Ancestral Other Side

5. Prefaced By The Signal Fires

6. A Closing Chapter (Scarlet Rising)

7. Singing Vengeance Into Being

8. Arrowhead As Epilogue

9. North Star, Inverted

Malady

Malady were a screamo/post-hardcore band from Virginia that formed in 2004 and ended in 2005. They are most known for being the band that members of pg.99 and City of Caterpillar formed after both bands broke up. Despite coming immediately after the aforementioned bands, they had already shown drastic signs of progression. Malady isn't quite as quick and chaotic as pg.99, but not as drawn-out and dynamic as City of Caterpillar. Malady played fairly straight-forward hardcore punk, though it did still dwell within the darker sounds of the genre. The guitars are sharp, and pierce through these 8 scorching songs with a sense of melody that is constantly eschewed by noise. The rolling drums throw the band into different directions, and the vocals sound worn, but just as passionate as any of their previous bands. Their sole album, put out by Level Plane Records, is incredible for a band with an existence as short as theirs. It's unfortunate they didn't do more, but to compensate, Pygmy Lush was the next major band that came out of the pg.99 clan, so that definitely does even things out.

Below is their sole LP, and if you want to hear an early practice tape, plus some stuff that would later become Verse En Coma (another short-lived pg.99-family project), check them out on Robotic Obscurities. Enjoy.

Update: The Archivist is finally giving this incredible album a proper online release. I've been asked to remove the download link, but you can still grab this classic over at their Bandcamp (which is now linked below), or any of the streaming platforms listed here. You can also get more info about The Archivist there, and should have no problem finding a place to give this a listen, as well as your support if you can.

Malady (2004)

1. Tongue

2. Yeah

3. Well Again

4. The World is a Tomb

5. Bad Life

6. Heroine

7. Said Simone

8. Let's Face It

Shizune

Shizune are a five-piece screamo/post-hardcore band from Lonigo, Italy. Since 2012, they've been releasing some of the best screamo around now. They continue what bands like Raein and La Quiete have been doing, which is making incredibly visceral, but technically proficient, emotional hardcore. They are the definition of "beauty in chaos", by driving melodic guitars through blasts of drum beats and scorching vocals. Their latest release, Le Voyageur Imprudent is easily one of, if not the best screamo/post-hardcore records you're going to hear all year, so get on this now. Their back catalogue is equally impressive, with numerous albums to their name that pummel through emotional excruciation that never ceases to demand attention. Plus, Shizune work with two of the best record labels out there, Driftwood Records and Dog Knights Productions, which are both worth looking into. Not only for their impressive roster, but to support them as much as they support some of the best bands out there now. Enjoy.

shizune. (2012)

1. Petit déjeuner en enfer

2. ok...anywhere, but not in 秋葉原

3. Kairos

4. Redshift

5. Days of Væstena

6. shit, I need more RAM!

7. Weekend at Lake Vostok

mono no aware: eternity | burial (2012)

1. Kamchatka

2. HAARP connections

3. Dyatlov Pass Incident, Холат-Сяхыл

4. MONØLITH: Fall of Nibiru

5. Plague doctor

Minus Tree/Shizune (2013)

1. Minus Tree - never walk on a frozen lake

2. Shizune - souvenirs d'éternité

3. Shizune - in memoria di nessuno

Things Fall Apart/Tall Ships Set Sail/Infro/Shizune (2014)

1. Things Fall Apart - Everyday Takes Me Further from You

2. Things Fall Apart - Virginia Woolf

3. Tall Ships Set Sail - Pizza Donut

4. Tall Ships Set Sail - Filet of Fish

5. Infro - 嘘の鏡と真実の悪魔

6. Infro - モドラナイ

7. Shizune - An appointment with Richard Harrison

8. Shizune - March blizzard in Rostov na Donu

Retro Engineering Artifacts (2014)

1. Kamchatka

2. souvenirs d'éternité

3. Redshift

4. Petit déjeuner en enfer

5. amaritudinis (il mostro)- I movimento

6. Days of Væstena

7. March blizzard in Rostov na Donu

8. Kairos

9. HAARP connections

10. ok...anywhere, but not in 秋葉原

11. Dyatlov Pass Incident, Холат-Сяхыл

12. MONØLITH- Fall of Nibiru

13. Weekend at Lake Vostok

14. An appointment with Richard Harrison

15. shit, I need more RAM!

16. Plague doctor

17. in memoria di nessuno

Le Voyageur Imprudent (2015)

1. Aestheticism

2. Notes of decay

3. Un telefono che non squilla

4. Sputnik! nostalgia

5. Vesper

6. Immortel et Impérissable

7. Senza luce

8. Orienteering in Aokigahara青木ヶ原

9. Difficile da capire, impossibile da spiegare

10. Instructions for inertia

Cheat Death, Live Dead! (2017)

1. the dreamers sleep on concrete

2. dance dance dance

3. lentiggini

4. take her to takamatsu toonice

5. per stare al passo coi tempi ho perso tutti di vista

6. dead all day, rodeo tonight!

7. espiazione del moratorium

8. je veux que la mort me trouve plantant mes choux

9. kathmandu

10. always separate the drugs

Shizune/Lytic (2019)

1. Shizune - greg e a roppongi con john macAfee

2. Shizune - occhiaie metafisiche

3. Lytic - Greener Grass

4. Lytic - All Bleeding Stops Eventually

5. Lytic - Lugenpresse

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Driftwood Records

Apart

Apart were a five-piece screamo/hardcore band from Greenville, South Carolina, that existed from 2010 to 2013. They were signed to Mayfly Records during their time. They are often described as mixing contemporary melodic hardcore with older screamo influence, and I think that's pretty accurate. They are incredibly passionate in their delivery, with some very melodic guitar parts, but piercing vocal delivery. They shred themselves through each song, making comparisons to bands as different as More Than Life or Loma Prieta warranted. To namedrop a few other comparisons, Caravels, State Faults, Beau Navire, and We Were Skeletons might be adequate. Their album Gray Light is really, really good, and I suggest giving it a try to any fan of the aforementioned bands. Not to mention it has some amazing production work on it. Enjoy.

Only Revolutions (2011)

1. Make Not A Single Sound Amongst Saints

2. The Wild And Outraged Earth

3. A House Of Many Windows

4. The Frailty Of Everything

5. Now Call Down Your Dark and Your Cold, and be Damned

Play on, soft pipes/The Best Eight Words (2011)

1. Play on, soft pipes

2. The Best 8 Words

Gray Light (2012)

1. Carolina Cold

2. Two Lane Blacktop

3. Play On, Soft Pipes

4. Candles and Calendars

5. Sick of Sunlight

6. Blindfolds

7. Gray Light

8. Dead Air

A Bright And Clever Hell (2013)

1. Worth Remembering

2. Suffer In Rhythm

3. Martin

4. Oak Island

5. Untitled

6. Second Best (Pedro The Lion cover)